The instant invention relates to a press having at least one collector wagon for compressible material to be pressed that can be coupled and uncoupled, whereby the press encompasses a press chamber, whereby the collector wagon encompasses a collector chamber having a floor and walls, whereby, when the collector wagon is coupled to the press, compressible material collected therein can be mechanically transferred from the collector wagon into the press chamber, wherein at least the floor of the collector wagon can be displaced upward back and forth from a lower collecting position for emptying it, wherein provision is made for a feeder device, by means of which the compressible material present in the collector chamber can be fed upward to the press chamber of the press when the collector wagon is coupled to the press, by moving at least the floor, and wherein the collector wagon is fillable with compressible material to be pressed in a state uncoupled from the press at a location at a distance from the press.
In large shops, such as discount stores or large supermarkets, for example, the packaging material, which accumulates in response to the removal of merchandise from larger transport containers is generally collected in collector wagons as compressible material to be pressed, so as to then be guided therein towards a central press, in particular a baling press. Common collector wagons thereby have a base area, which corresponds approximately to the base area of a europallet. They are equipped with rollers and are pushed through the corridors of the sales room by the operating staff. On their sides, the collector wagons are typically provided with side walls as lateral boundary. Due to the fact that the loading of the collector wagons generally takes place from the top, the side walls encompass a height, which allows for this loading to take place effortlessly. When a collector wagon is filled, the operator drives with it to the central press, at which the content is unloaded from the collector wagon. This unloading of the compressible material collected in the collector wagon takes place either manually or machine-supported. In the case of a manual emptying, the material to be pressed is removed from the collector wagon by the operating staff, e.g., and is either filled into the storage chamber of a baling press, e.g. according to WO 2008/113465 A1, or the material to be pressed is inserted through the loading opening e.g. of a horizontal baling press into the press chamber thereof. When this press chamber has been filled to the extent that no further material to be pressed fits into it, the loading opening is closed and a pressing plate compacts the material to the pressed. This procedure is disadvantageously time-consuming and laborious.
Solutions for horizontal baling presses, in the case of which a collector wagon is placed into a lifting and tilting device assigned to the press, which are known from relevant practical experience, provide for a simplification and saving of time. After locking the collector wagon in the lifting and tilting device, the collector wagon is lifted by the device and is tilted about a horizontal axis by approx. 180°, whereby the content of the collector wagon falls into the storage container of the baling press or into the filling chamber of a press container. From this storage or filling chamber, the compressible material is then fed either into the press container or into the baling press with the help of suitable means, e.g. a compacting screw. The disadvantage of these solutions is in particular the space requirement for the lifting and tilting device and for the subsequent collector chamber. In addition, a high room, which is often not available, is required in the case of high-lying filling openings of presses for lifting and tilting the collector wagon by means of the device, so that such presses having a lifting and tilting device can then only be set up on open-air ground, where they are subject to weather conditions and which causes longer transport distances in response to the delivery of the compressible material to be pressed.
A press of the afore-mentioned type is known from document JP 2002-126 897 A. Material to be treated, which is collected in a collector wagon, is pressed by means of this press, in that the following steps are carried out successively: the collector wagon comprising the material to be treated is accommodated in a wagon storing chamber, a bottom plate of the collector wagon is lifted by means of a fork and the material to be treated is pressed out of the collector wagon into a carrier box and is prepressed. The carrier box, into which the prepressed material to be treated was pushed into, is then moved straight ahead sideways via a press chamber of the press, while the fork is lowered to a lower dead point position and the bottom plate is brought back to the bottom of the collector wagon. Finally, the prepressed material to be treated is pushed out of the carrier box into the press chamber, is pressed against the bottom of the press chamber and is pressed by means of a lowering operation of a pressing plate.
In the case of this known press, it is considered to be disadvantageous that only certain materials to be pressed are suitable for being transported by means of the carrier box, which must be open on the top and on the bottom, namely those materials, which jam in the transport box to a sufficient extent in response to the prepressing in the carrier box, without thereafter automatically falling out of the carrier box again in parts or even as a whole. Such a risk exists in particular in the case of flat layered compressible material, such as paper or cardboard boxes. The range of application of the press in terms of the compressible materials, which are to be processed, is thus limited.